Allow yourself to be captivated by a master musician’s vivid imagination.
There’s always a hope that listening to a new album will take the listener to a place they hadn’t been to before. Through inspired music and inventive and unusual lyrics, occasionally there are albums that really do allow the listener to be taken to a different and fascinating place. And so it is with veteran singer-songwriter Dupree, whose latest album is something else. It’s a collection of ten songs that are so vivid and impactful that it takes your breath away. On first listening, one can’t help but be taken on a musical journey to a place we’ve never been to before; it’s off-kilter but joyously rewarding. Enter the hypnotic mind of master tunesmith and poetic lyricist Dupree. It’ll be quite a journey.
Think mixing all the best elements of Will Oldham, Cass McCombs and even David Baerwald. It’s rootsy and diverse in its sound, and he’s brought together no less than fifteen musicians to make some life-affirming music.
Things get off to a stirring start on New Meaning with an off-kilter electric guitar sound, on a typically mysterious song about rebirth and even though it’s very Dupree-ish, a sort of singalong chorus is included, but encased in a typically obtuse tale and a lovely tune.
The gentle I Could’ve Been Anyone opens with some lovely strings before light drumming and acoustic strumming take over, and a very unusual love story is told. Dupree’s voice is really his own, highly effective and sometimes verging on talking, but fitting perfectly with the imagery and sounds he’s creating.
Stevie’s Fever has a toe-tapping feel with its JJ Cale-style uptempo groove and some superb organ and electric guitar playing, making for another weird tale told with wit and strong imagery. Zodiac begins with a Tom Waits feel and slowly takes you into a lo-fi, weird world with strange violin playing and moody guitar strumming, coupled with oblique yet fascinating lyrics.
Then there’s another atmospheric song, I Can See Her In Your Eyes, where Dupree duets with Jodie Holland and her distinctive vocal style is a match made in heaven, which is very reminiscent of the best of Joe Henry.
There are two covers; one is of the late Michael Hurley’s You’re a Dog, Don’t Talk To Me and Scott Walker’s On Your Own Again, with both being given slightly different renditions to the originals, but both wonderful and so suited to Dupree’s musical world.
The album closes with Marseille, featuring just an acoustic guitar and a few electric guitar chords, and Dupree’s wonderfully rich and atmospheric voice. It’s a love letter and once again takes the listener into a richly painted world whose emotions and feelings are so vivid. Majestically, it ends abruptly and silently and is all the more effective for it.
Dupree has been making music for decades now, and his last album was really well received by one of our writers a few years back. Dupree’s Bandcamp page had a simply glorious quote which says so much about him and his music: “music for people who like words/words for people who like music“.
This album is something really special, a beautiful, different, richly observed peek into the musical and lyrical mind of Dupree, who should be so much better known than he is. It’s time to delve into his back catalogue, as this listening requires one to savour more of his amazing music. Top drawer stuff.
